3 & Out - Drafting the right player, Stafford and Brady meet, Fugazi Friday

John dives into the importance of drafting the right players coming out of the NFL combine and how coaches and GM's need to listen to what the doctors say regarding players' medicals even though they sometimes get it wrong. Next, John discusses the Matt Stafford-Tom Brady meet up at a private ski resort, will Myles Garrett accept a new contract in Cleveland, and the return of "Fugazi Friday."

Later, John answers your questions for this episode's mailbag segment.

5:46 - Listening to the doctors

14:58 - Stafford and Brady

20:47 - Myles Garrett and the Browns

24:09 - Fugazi Friday

31:55 - Mailbag

Follow John on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube for the latest. #Volume #Herd

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The volume. What is going on everybody? How are we doing?
Hopefully everyone is having a great fugazy Friday, because that's

(00:23):
what today is. I think I changed to the original
to the correct pronunciation because a lot of people banged
on me for calling it fugazi, which I thought sounded
a little bit better. But as you people in the Burroughs,
my Italian brothers and sisters out there, no, it's fugazy.
So on giant fugazy Friday, we have the Combine, which

(00:43):
is off and running. I just had on whatever they
call the extra computer screen that kind of looks like
a little TV. You know, you just drag things over
there and act like you're doing some business. I usually
just drag television show over there, so whatever, you know,
And I had the combine going a defensive tack was
running forties and we're off and running, baby, and this morning,

(01:04):
you know, this is part of the combine is these
stories that come out about injuries, and we had a
pretty big one, so we will touch on that. And
I think it's kind of symbolic of why this is
just such a tough process and year in, year out,
mistakes are made, and that there is no right or
wrong way to do things. There was a big story

(01:24):
that started online carried over to Starbucks between a couple
of big jays. I almost said Andrew Schultz, but Jordan
Schultz was not happy with rap Sheet and they started
screaming at Well, I think Schultz starts screaming at rap Sheet,
which is a fun story and makes you laugh for

(01:46):
anyone that consumes internet content. I saw rap Sheet on
McAfee today with the DJ and Rich Eisen were there
and they were all having a good chuckle. But I
do think it kind of you know, you separate the
craziness of the reporters, you know the story. I do

(02:06):
want to dive into Stafford and Brady who We're at
the Yellowstone Club, which I've never been. Who knows if
I ever will get the invite, don't know anyone there
for my money. Sounds like the best country club in America.
In the summer it's an incredible golf course and in
the winter it's a private ski resort. A lot of celebrities,

(02:29):
the ultra rich. Why Brady and Stafford, who actually made
more money than Brady playing football, both like to vacation there.
Slash have a house there so we can dive into
that in some other NFL news and notes. So we
will kind of wrap up for the weekend. I think
I will also we will have an audio mail bag
for the weekend. We will have a video mail bag

(02:52):
later today as well. So a lot of content makes
obviously subscribe to the podcast. Everything basically is up on
YouTube as well. So this is a fun time of
year for content. You know, I'm getting married here in
a week. We got free agency, we got the draft,
so buckle up because we are not slowing down. Life
is just getting started. But I do want to start

(03:13):
with every single year, this period comes right February March April,
and there is so much discussion about players, where their
value is, how good their skill set will translate, Why
this guy's a good prospect, why this guy's a good
bad prospect. And I've always thought this anytime you're dealing

(03:37):
with people, it's really challenging. These are not acquisitions, despite
being worth a ton. You know, if you're drafting the
top five, you're talking forty forty five million dollars contracts.
I mean, these are not you know, little acquisitions by
a team financially now, they're not what they will be
if they hit, but still investing a top pick into guy,

(04:00):
you're paying them a lot of money. They're getting a
thirty million dollars signing bonus. But usually in business, and
I've known some people or their families over the last
couple decades that mainly the last decade that I would
say had started companies, had worked in industries and had
been purchased by big conglomerates or vcs. Like if you

(04:21):
get paid ten million, twenty million dollars to sell your company,
like you have lived the American dream and our complete
business success. So these are big, big investments. And every
year we talk about like, well, half of these guys
are gonna miss. Half these guys are not gonna be
able to play. And I would say a percentage of
those guys, it changes year to year failed because simply

(04:43):
they can't play right or they're just not good enough.
And when I say fail, like don't get a second
contract with the team. And if you're drafted the top ten,
like if you're not making Pro Bowls and competing to
be an All Pro, like it it's a whiff, right,
It just this, And I've seen guys forty nine or
after Mike mclinchee number nine overall, he's gonna be a
starter in the NFL for a decade plus on teams

(05:05):
that have gone to the Super Bowl, NFC Championship, playoff teams.
He's gonna make a ton of money. But like, was
he a success for the forty nine ers, they didn't
give him a second contract. Like, obviously not Solomon Thomas,
Cleveland Ferrell, guys who were drafted in the top five.
Both guys are gonna have a decade long career, right,
Neither guy was good enough to get a second contract.

(05:27):
So it's like those guys are somewhere in the middle.
And then there are the worst case scenarios, the true
buss guys that are just out of the league very
very quickly, the you know, going back to Ryan Leaf, obviously,
JaMarcus Russell, the Johnny Manziel's. Those are the worst case scenario.
Best case scenario. Hit a home run, you get a
Pro Bowl level guy, you get an impact level guy,
you get a star. You get Jamar Chase, you get

(05:50):
Lane John I'm not even talking the quarterback, right, You
get Miles Garrett, you get Nick Bosa, you get a
guy that you want to invest Aaron Donald, Julio Jones,
AJ guys that you build your franchise around. And I
think the hard part for gms is they're not doctors,
yet a huge part of their business realize and is

(06:13):
dependent on medical information. And I would say one of
the most famous medical decisions in the history of the
league is when Nick Saban turned down Drew Brees. They
were ready to sign him and the doctor said, I
don't think his shoulder is going to work. I would
not recommend doing this. Nick Saban is a football coach.
He's the son of a gas station owner. So when

(06:35):
a doctor who has been doing it for a long time,
it was a medical degree who makes his living off
being in a hospital conducting surgeries, looking at X rays.
That again, football coaches GMS cannot read without the help
of these individuals. You kind of got to rely on
them fair or not, right or wrong. And it happens

(06:57):
every single year at the combine. A huge part of
the combine, separate from the workouts and obviously the UH
the interview room, is medical information. And it starts coming
out that Abdul Carter has a stress fracture in his foot. Now,
I would say GMS and coaches, if you've been doing
it long enough, you've been around a lot of players

(07:18):
with stress fractures in their feet. But I think the
number one question you asked the doctor like is this
something that he's always played with? Is this a new injury?
Is this something that if he gets fixed and he
gets surgery, which he's pushing back so he doesn't need surgery,
will it crop up? Will it need to be healed?
I remember there were questions years ago the the Oakland

(07:40):
Raiders with Reggie McKenzie had the fourth overall pick and
it was basically going to come down to Amari Cooper
and Leonard Williams. And at the time it was up
for debate, right Amari Cooper was an excellent prospect, so
was Leonard Williams. And one question with Leonard Williams was
this shoulder. They didn't know if it would hold up,

(08:01):
if he would need surgery, if it would hinder his ability.
Why I'm watching Leonard Williams play these last couple of years.
He's a fucking monster. So clearly that wasn't right now.
Amari Cooper's had a really good career, but like, if
you had to tell me, do I want Amari Cooper
or Leonard Williams? Right, who would you value more? The
Stud defensive lineman or Stud wide receiver. Neither guys are

(08:26):
like Hall of Fame guys, but really good players. You
would take the defensive lineman, right. But when your doctors
are telling you shoulder, shoulder, shoulder, you know, and sometimes
they're right, you know. I remember Jaya Jai who was
the running back from Boise. All the doctors degenerate me.
Will not hold up. Not a second contract guy. And
that's a huge thing. Not a second contract guy. Now
you can draft not a second contract guy in the

(08:48):
third round, the fourth round, the fifth round. Who cares.
If he's a good player for you for a couple
of years, you get him for cheap. It's fine. You're
not doing that in the first round. But sometimes doctors
are just wrong, and sometimes they're education to guess is
just off. And I just think that this brings up.
It just scares gms and teams. Now, this might be something,
no big deal. Abdul Carter, unfhazed, Number one overall. Pick

(09:12):
the tight end from Michigan who has shoulder surgery and
all reports from his agent he will be ready for training. Camp. Well,
what if your doctor comes into the room like, yeah,
I don't know, I don't like what I see. That's
not an opinion from a football person, a coach or

(09:32):
a GM Why they can't have that opinion that they
can't read the X ray they don't know what they're
looking at. So this is one of those rare businesses
where you are extremely dependent on someone where you have
no expertise. I mean, if you certain industries, and I'm
sure anyone listening can relate to this, you work with
lawyers and accountants and while they have an expertise in

(09:56):
the tax code maybe, or the have a law degree
and just have a pretty good understanding of reading contracts,
you can still go yeah, I feel like my gut's
right on this. There's a famous story about when Arnold
Palmer created the Golf Channel, and this is the early
nineties before the huge, huge cable boom, and his lawyers

(10:18):
and accountants in the room, and Arnold Palmer was worth
hundreds of millions of dollars at the time, had created
a massive, massive brand and business behind his name, and
he was being pitched by businessmen to start the Golf Channel,
which it's crazy to look back, but these, you know,
twenty four to seven networks dedicated to one individual sport

(10:40):
were mocked and laughed at back in the day. That's
not normal. That's not going to be successful. And I
remember watching this documentary where his accountant and lawyer were like,
I would not recommend doing this. This is a terrible
business decision. And Arnold finally got up and said, like,
you know what, if I wouldn't have hit some of
the shots between around trees, over water into holes that

(11:06):
Mike Caddie said, this is a terrible idea, none of
us would be sitting here right now. So my gut
and my instincts as a businessman says to do this,
and we're gonna do this. And it happens all the
time for those of you that work around people that
run businesses. For those of you that run businesses, you
are recommended by people in your inner circle, an accountant,

(11:27):
a lawyer, like this might not be a good idea,
though in your mind it is a good idea, and
you do it and it succeeds. Where in this situation,
it really is hard to trump a doctor. When your
owner is sitting there and he goes his knee, might
not work in four years. That scares everybody. And that's
not one of those well I think you're wrong, you know,

(11:47):
it's like my gut says no, this isn't a gut thing.
But sometimes the doctor's wrong. And that's what's such a
fascinating time when it comes to the draft, Stafford and
Brady one, the story between Jordan Schultz and rap Sheet
is just hilarious. I mean that Jordan Schultz, who is
the heir to Howard Schultz, who's his father who built

(12:09):
Starbucks from scratch. If you want just a fantastic it's
a long three hours, but it's called a podcast called Acquired.
They just talked with Howard Schultz for like two and
a half three hours on just how he built the business.
And Jordan was tweeting out yesterday that basically Brady flew
him in to Yellowstone and hung out with Stafford and

(12:34):
pitched Stafford on this opportunity to become the Raiders quarterback.
And then obviously rap Sheet came back and said that's
not what happened. They both just vacation there and they
obviously talked football in life and the Raiders while they're there,
but it was not some plan thing regardless who cares.
Matt Stafford asked for and was granted the opportunity to

(12:56):
talk to other teams. So to me, one thing tampering
in general, and I would say this goes for most
industries if you're not pushing the envelope. And I'm not
saying break the law, but Peter Guber, one of the
owners of the Warriors, basically has this famous line like
there are no rules, but just break them at your
own peril, essentially like, yeah, there's not really black and

(13:20):
white concrete things that you should and should not do,
but if you do the wrong thing, you're fucked. And
I think that's kind of the way the world works.
It's like, it's why I always struggle with the word
tampering in football. It's like I saw today, I was
at the gym. I saw on CNBC Starbucks hit a
fifty two week high today. Well, within the last six months,

(13:42):
they have fired their CEO and they stole the guy
from Chipotle. And if you think the moment they fired
their CEO, they went, let's just conduct a search, let's
go see who we want to be our next CEO.
No chance they knew before they ever fired their guy,
And I'm sure they had talked to the CEO of

(14:03):
Chipotle while he was under contract and making money about
the job opportunity before they pulled the trigger on firing
a guy because the company wasn't shambles. That's the way
the world works. And one everyone trying to make a
big deal of this again on the internet. It's like
the Rams gave him the opportunity. Now. I also think
this Brady gets to work in this like mysterious role,

(14:27):
right because he gets to kind of act as a
football guy because he has a ton of opinions on football.
Spy Tech even just admitted that at the combine and
kind of an owner though he's not by any means
the majority owner, and no owner in the NFL who's
not the majority owner is really doing anything, you know.
That's what makes the Raiders this unique situation is like
that would never happen with John Morra or Jeffrey Lorie,

(14:50):
or the York family or the Jones family, Right, any
of these teams that aren't one hundred percent owned by
one person, their minority owner is not wooing and hanging
out out with potential coaches or players. But Brady's in
this weird role, and I would say he has the ability,
like if Tom Brady wants to talk to you. There
are certain individuals in every line of work that if

(15:14):
they call you, want a meeting, want to hop on
a zoom, want a phone call, want a dinner, they're
getting that. They're getting whatever they want immediately. And when
it comes to football, Tom Brady is that individual. So
when he's pitching Stafford on whatever, he is like, it
doesn't bother me at all. What do you think is
going on at the combine right now? Do you think

(15:35):
when you sit down with an agent who right now,
legally you're only supposed to meet with agents of your
own players, don't you think you're asking them about their
players who are going to be free agents? Of course
you wouldn't be doing your job if you're a general manager.
I would say again, like, don't go to jail, don't
break the law. But if you're not pushing the envelope

(15:57):
in whatever you do, you're not gonna get laughed. That's
kind of the way the world works. And to me,
Tom Brady and the Raiders like it kind of feels
like the world they're playing it now, you're gonna get
to a point where some of these teams, not maybe
not on this individual instance, are gonna get tired of
Brady being able to kind of work in this mysterious way.

(16:19):
But right now he feels like a pretty big asset
for them, right He was the reason that they got
an interview with Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson originally turned them down,
and then Tom Brady got on the Horn and they
interviewed him. Matt Stafford not in a million years if
Tom Brady did not exist, even if they had spy
tech and Pete Carroll would be interested in the Raiders,
no chance. But instead I would imagine he's very interested

(16:41):
in the Raiders, especially if they're willing to pay him. Right, So,
I think Tom Brady is He has been a huge,
huge addition to the Raiders because he can get things done,
get people on the horn, and just make give you
the opportunity to make shit happened that did not exist
before and it exists now. So I kind of side
with Jordan Schultz, even if they both have places at

(17:05):
Yellowstone where it's like, yeah, I mean this is if
you think this just randomly bumped into each other in
the chair lift, or you know, after the last run
having a couple bruskies. I don't even know if Brady
drinks even in the off season now that he's retired.
But you're fucking crazy, Like, of course, like there were

(17:25):
some tax and calls like hey, I'm gonna be here,
you should come here, And maybe it is true Stafford
has a pad there as well, but like this is
the way business is done. And props to the Raiders
for including this guy because they're just feel much more
in the mix with credibility, which was not the case
pre Tom Brady. And that's that even goes for when
they had Gruden. A couple other NFL quick notes, Mary Kay,

(17:49):
who has covered the Cleveland Browns feels like my entire life,
said that Miles Garrett will not accept the Browns money. Also, well,
what I'm saying is he will not accept a contract
and standsy for the Browns. He does not want their money.
Trade me away, Andrew Barry, Kevin Stefanski, you guys to
say whatever you want. I want fucking out of here.

(18:12):
I don't want your money. I don't want to be here.
And I think the Browns have a legitimate problem, and
to me, the easiest way to fix this is to
do it in the next couple weeks. Take your haul
right now, sell your guy at a premium price. It's
not very often that you can sell a twenty nine
thirty year old player for multiple first round picks. Luckily
for you, you're in a really bad situation. You have

(18:32):
the number two overall pick and it's just time to punt.
And I don't blame you. This isn't just trading the
player out of the blue. This isn't a Raiders Khalil
Mack situation. Like wait, they did what everyone can understand
and comprehend what you're about to do, but you should
do it. The Chiefs once upon a time they drafted
a guy late in the draft named Tray Smith. And

(18:54):
this gets back to what I talked about opening up.
Is the reason Tray Smith was not a first or
second round pick is because they were major medical questions.
I think it might have been like a heart murmur
or something could be wrong. Don't quote me on that,
but it was something very serious. Everyone agreed this is
a top fifty player in the draft, yet he falls
to the sixth round because the doctors say you cannot

(19:16):
draft this guy. Well, the Chiefs did, and then he
became a pro bowler, right and now he becomes a
guy good enough that they franchise tag twenty three million dollars. Now,
I think you know how much would it cost Tray
Smith to get him to sign. I would guess probably
forty five to fifty million guaranteed it's good to be

(19:36):
a guard right now. Twenty three million dollar franchise tag.
If he accepts a long term contract, it'll probably be
at around twenty one twenty two million dollars. What a
great time to be in the NFL. Player in the
trenches guards twenty three million dollar franchise tags. Kelsey tells
Pat McAfee, I'm coming back, baby, I Am not going
out on that Super Bowl and getting our ass kick

(19:59):
like that. I also THO think a huge part of
Travis Kelce if he is telling the truth and he's
gonna come back, not retiring as he's owed eighteen million
dollars and Jim Harbaugh rated dead last in that. I
still find it hilarious that Woody Johnson got an F.
Woody Johnson got an F when I was growing up,

(20:20):
if I would have got an F on my report card,
I grew up in an era where you can still
come here your ass kicked. I probably would have got
a whooping. I would have got in big trouble avoided.
Some f's got some c minuses over the years, but
an F, it's just that even to this day, and
I listen, you know me, I'm not a huge like
taking academia very seriously, but when you say F, it

(20:44):
just it doesn't get any worse than that. So, man,
I don't know how Woody Johnson shakes that. But Jim
Harbaugh was voted as the guy who is worse with
the player's time, the least efficient. He just holds meetings
and they go on and on and on and on.
Guy just loves football. Okay, well, on this I'm going
to do the inverse of fugazy Friday, because usually we

(21:05):
pick something that is just kind of a giant fraud.
I do think and I felt like this coming into
my wedding. We did not get a wedding planner. And
I would say most people I have talked to are like,
we paid our wedding planner five grand, eight grand, twelve grand.
It's like I don't even know what they did. And Maria,
when we originally got engaged, it was in the summer.

(21:28):
She works in real estate. She's like, I'll just do it.
And then in probably when was it? Would it have
been mid to late October. She changed brokerages to get
with this ultra luxury brand, and her workload quadrupled, and
she was still running point on our wedding. And I
have watched over the last three or four months her

(21:50):
wedding plan and everything that goes into it. I know this.
If you said, hey, John, I'm getting married. I'm getting
married in Texas, I'm getting married in Los Angeles and
married in New York City. We're gonna have one hundred
and fifty people there. Would you like to plan my wedding?
I would. I would respond to you and say, well,
obviously not. But if I did, the minimum I would
charge you would be fifty thousand dollars because the pain

(22:12):
in the ass of working the logistics, working with the bride,
working with the bride's family, working with all the vendors.
It is not an easy job. So I will defend.
I would say a group that's viewed as like, ah,
they're kind of a fugazy, like how much are they making?
I love and listen, I see that with her with
real estate agents, most people say, like, got it? She really?
Are they really? How do they make that much? I

(22:33):
don't think people value their time enough, Like do you
understand the amount of time and especially a wedding vendor,
a real estate agent. There is no This ain't a
nine to five. You know, this isn't the government. You
get to clock out and just go home and chill
the rest of the day and no one hit you.
It's like twenty four to seven. It never stops. The emails,
the emails, the emails, the calls, the emails, the calls.
It's like, holy fuck, I'm losing my mind and we're
not even getting paid for this. And I didn't do

(22:55):
anything but watching her do it, it's like this is
it's a hard job, and we don't We're having people
like this is a small destination, shouldn't be that crazy
and it is extremely time consuming. I guess overall, I
don't think people value their time enough. And I think
when people take shots at other people's jobs when they
feel that they're overpaid, they would never put themselves in

(23:15):
the same position to waste and give as much as
their time, and they would if they were on that
side they'd be like, God, I'm not being paid enough.
And I got a lot of respect for especially someone
that takes it seriously and does a good job. Being
a wedding planner and dealing with all the moving parts
is not easy. Now maybe in a couple of years
AI will just replace them all and just press a

(23:36):
couple of buttons and boom, it'll all be done, which
is very possible, but right now doesn't quite exist. And
I have a lot of respect for any of your
wives that are wedding planners. It's a challenging job, a
lot of emotions, you know, I see it with her.
In real estate, most people, especially younger people, it's the
biggest purchase they'll ever make, and when they do, if
they purchase their first home, it is by far the

(23:57):
biggest purchase they've ever made. So there's a ton of
am and it's just a lot going on and just
a lot of moving parts, a lot of people worked up.
So not only does it take a lot of your time,
you're dealing with people that are like, emotionally on tilt.
So a lot of respect John Middlecoff, A lot of
respect for you wedding planners out there, who's scoring big

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Speaker 1 (25:55):
Time for a little thing we call the mail bag
at John middlecoff at John cough just my name, two
f's fire into those dms and get your questions answered here.
So the thing we call the podcast, I have basically
a two part question and from two different people, but
they kind of tie into each other. Ethan said, what

(26:18):
are the legit chances of the of an Eagles dynasty
and or repeat? And as well as what exactly in
detail is Big Dom's job with the Birds? Is he
sort of like the fixer. Let's start with the birds
chances of a dynasty slash repeat. They have a lot

(26:41):
of impactful core guys under contract for the foreseeable future.
So your quarterback, young under contract receivers young under contract
star running back. We'll take in the prime of his career,
under contract offensive lineman Landon Dickerson my lot, as long
as Lane's healthy. I mean star players under contract, Jalen Carter,

(27:05):
Nolan Smith, I mean Cooper Dejeen, Mitchell, the first round corner.
I mean the core of the team, under contract, elite
players in their prime. I saw how he mentioned that
in UH. I think in his press conference, like this's
a big difference from the twenty seventeen year, Like most
of our core guys are talking mid to late twenties,

(27:27):
prime of their career. So dynasty, it's hard to tell,
but I think repeat is very much on the table
now these next I don't know, fourteen days he does have,
You know, Sweat is not coming back, like Sweat will
be on a different team. But what do they let
Milton Williams walk? I think that's one's kind of interesting.

(27:50):
I think the Zach Vond thing is what do they
do with him? Do they try? I'm sure they're trying
to get a deal done. I mean this is the
time of his life where he could I mean this
the type of guy that could get three or four
year contract with forty fifty million dollars guaranteed. So it's
one of those where he just won the Super Bowl,
he got was an All Pro, Like he kind of

(28:12):
did what he had to do, and you know he
has a ring and an All Pro for the rest
of his life. Like now is kind of the time
to cash in. And I don't know if the Eagles
can get there financially. If people I would just say
get absurd with money. For I hate Colling a one
year wonder because his one year was so good. But

(28:32):
he only has one year. But some of these teams
have so much money. Did a guy like Zach Bond,
So yeah, we'll overpay by twenty five percent whatever. Get
a high level cat who's good player, smart guy, Fangio
loves him. You want that type guy in the building.
So it'll be interesting to watch how he kind of
cook over the next couple of weeks. And then I

(28:53):
think the curveball that they could throw at any moment
is like they would be the team, like, yeah, we'll
let all these free agents walk and then we'll trade
two first rounders and give Miles Garrett one hundred and
thirty guaranteed. Like the Eagles are definitely a team lingering around.
If Miles Garrett like this does come to fruition and
it's like, okay, we just got to trade him before
a free agency starts. Give us your best offers, and

(29:17):
you gotta work with Miles because you're gonna give him
contract extension. So I think the Eagles would be very
much in play. Plus their GM used to work in Philly.
I think Big Dom, you know, when I was around him,
I would say Big Dom fixer would be strong. You know,
guys way back in the day pre cell phones and

(29:38):
stuff in this I remember hearing stories of people that
were around like the Bill Walsh Eddy to Bartlow Niners
in the eighties. It'd be much easier if you know,
someone gets pulled over super drunk with a back of
cocaine and he's an All Pro NFL player in nineteen
eighty seven and just make it go away. I think
some of these things are a little harder to make

(29:59):
hap been in the day and age of our cell
phone videos, and I would say cops with the body
camp stuff like. I'm not saying that that doesn't exist,
but I would say the league built the NFL, like
a lot of pro sports league were built on taking
care of your star players. You know, even before I

(30:21):
was born in the seventies. Like, I think it's a
little different now. I think Big Don plays a role
of a lot of times, people like him are viewed
as a narc. I mean, that happened with the dude
I forget his name, almost said Epstein, but not iber Fluse, whoever,
the Texans Patriot Church guy was. You know, he was

(30:46):
viewed as like this guy that would get in close
with the players, would be like their life coach. But
then he would go back and tell the GM or
the coach all the problems he was having. You know.
With the Eagles, I think the players are very comfortable
with when shit comes up and it's weird. He can
play this role of like psychologist meets matchmaker and just

(31:10):
kind of keep things together. He's like this bridge of
management and the players and just kind of keeping everything kumbaya.
He just has this way. I mean, I remember when
I was like an intern my first year making like
twenty grand didn't have health Benni's I was just doing
the stupidest tasks and I would just hang with him.

(31:31):
I would, you know, his office was downstairs, and I
would I didn't have an office to watch film, so
I would have to go, usually to a meeting room
and his office was down there, and he would just
tell the best. He would just He's just an easy
guy to get along with. I love the guy when
I was working him. I was texting with him during

(31:53):
the Super Bowl run. I've never been around anyone in
that organization player coach doubt that doesn't just love dumb.
It's just one of those people that's harder to describe.
He's also very helpful, Like if you ever have questions like,
hey man, I I don't even know I'm talking like

(32:13):
basic things like where can I get my car fixed?
He's like, oh, I got a guy right on Seventh Street.
I mean, everything you need, he just got. And that's
the one benefit of, you know, a place like Philly.
So when you talk about quote unquote fixers, you know
Philly is well, it's one of the biggest cities in
America's still very I would say a little bit of

(32:35):
a throwback where everyone kind of knows everyone in certain neighborhoods,
and he's pretty tied in with a lot of people,
so he just can help a lot of people out.
And I think people, you know, you got a very
famous people on the team players now Howie and coaches
and the owner. They're just very comfortable with him handling shit.

(33:00):
It sounds bad, but it's not even a lot of
stuff is even that bad. Just one of those guys
that you feel better when he's around. H question for
the mailbag. He also want. One thing guys like him
do is during free agency in the draft process, they
are very good at like becoming I don't want to

(33:24):
say a detective, but they can just accumulate information. I
would say, if you've ever watched the movie Ray Donovan
or it was a television show on Showtime, he's like
Ray Donovan, but like in an NFL world kind of
Now if I remember, I don't think Ray was necessarily
killing people, but he would clean up murders of like

(33:46):
famous people. No one's murdering anyone, but like he just
could make shit happen and would get things done, especially
sometimes in uncomfortable situations. I mean, think about in football,
you have these young guys making a lot of money.
You know. I think some stuff over the years. I
remember there being instance when I was there with players

(34:08):
and at the time it's like I knew all the details,
but stuff revolving females that could get weird and out
of hand. He's really good at I would say, calming
the waters with stuff like that, because you know, in
this day and age that type stuff can get really bad,
real fast. And I think he plays. I don't really

(34:29):
know how else to say it. And listen, I haven't
worked in the organization for a long time now, but
he's I mean, he's an invaluable member. And you know,
I remember hearing stories the forty nine ers had a
guy like him, in the eighties with Eddie de Bartela
and Bill Walsh. They're just you couldn't even have one
of those guys in California now, but in Philly you can.
And I would say Big Dom is an integral part.

(34:53):
Just what a legendary you know, He's just this big
Italian dude. Where's the sweatsuits? Big Donald's a man? Question
for the mail Bank that might be something different for you.
I'm a young football coach and coach at the high
school level just turn twenty four. From what you've seen
and been around, what is the one trait that you

(35:14):
think is the most important for coaches at any level
to have success. That's a good question, I think too often,
and I think you could say this probably about the
profession I'm in, is that you and you could honestly
probably parallels a lot of industries that when you're starting
off doing whatever you want to do, especially in a

(35:35):
business like coaching or I would say radio, podcasting, or
television or maybe even finance, you have a huge mentor
someone you look up to and someone that you desire
to be dis like because that's the reason you want
to do what you're doing is because of them. So
you emulate them and you try to basically copy them.

(35:57):
And in coaching, I think you've seen like a why
a lot of guys fail, will use the NFL as
an example is people try to be Bill Belichick, right,
But Bill Belichick's personality is different from everyone else. And
I think a huge key to success as a coach.
And I've been around spent two years around Pat Hill,

(36:17):
who was an excellent coach, and obviously not just Andy,
but I was there around Todd Ball, Sean McDermott, Matt Naggey,
Doug Peterson, Deuce Staley, who I think is an absolute
stud They're very authentic and every one of our personalities
are different. We have different quirks. We have different emotional

(36:43):
stability or instability. Some of us are louder than others.
Some of us are more empathetic than others. Some of
us are whatever our personal characteristics are. And I think
the best coaches are just themselves, and I think any
human being when they realize and part of being a coach,
like you're doing this to try to help other people out,

(37:05):
to try to make a player at a high school
level a better player. And for most guys you're coaching,
that'll be the last level of football they ever play.
The last time I ever put on a helmet and
shoulder pads was two thousand and two. Right, there'll be
ninety nine percent of people, maybe a little smaller ninety
eight people who ever play football, and then that other

(37:26):
crew of guys you're trying to get improve them so
they can go off and play college football, and then
a tiny, tiny ninety percent of them, you'll be very
lucky as a high school coach to ever have an
NFL player. So like you're teaching them, but it's you,
so like you have to be true to yourself, don't
you can copy other people? Like I think that's a

(37:48):
really good drill or I think that was a really
good way to explain something in front of the room.
But like you have to do it your way. Think
about the coaches, let's just use the Let's use college too,
who are really successful. Like Dan Campbell. A lot of
people made fun of him when he got hired. But
you know what, I'll give Dan Campbell, He's very true

(38:10):
to himself. I think Dan Campbell is just extremely authentic
Andy Reid. Why does everyone like Andy? Andy's an LA kid.
I know he's lived in Philly, in Green Bay and
Kansas City now for the last thirty plus years. But
at his roots, like Andy Reid's wearing rainbow sandals, walking
around the office in shorts, like he's a California guy.

(38:32):
He's got a West Coast and he's very true to
that personality. It doesn't mean that you can't get mad
or like things, but I think oftentimes people try to
be something they're not, and I think that I think
the longer and the more you're true to yourself, and

(38:53):
it's hard, like you got to you know, there's you know,
confidence is built over time having success and it can
take a while as being young in any profession, but
talk to people like you would talk to people, not
the way that you see someone else doing it, unless
you think, like this is not gonna work. But I

(39:13):
would say authenticity in passion and if you're coaching, you're
probably passion about football, and those two things go hand
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Longtime fan, first time caller. What are the most important
moves the Patriots need to make to get back into
the playoffs in a strong force in the AFC? It's funny.
We talk about it every single time, and all I
see in patriot Land is like, how do we land

(41:03):
t Higgins? How do we land a wide receiver? It's like, guys,
do we all agree that your offensive line sucks? The
easiest way to help out your young quarterback? Who I
saw Verbel say that his oldest son is older than
Drake May. He's like, God, it makes me feel old.

(41:23):
I'm like, this is kind of crazy. I guess Drake
May is what twenty one, twenty two. You know, Verbels
probably fifty, so you know he might have twenty two
year old kid. But I think the easiest way to
help out a quarterback improve the offensive line, get a
tight end in a running back. And if you look
at this draft and you look at the free agent class,

(41:44):
go buy a couple offensive linemen. And in the draft
you're not gonna draft the tight end at four overall
or whatever, but offensive defensive lineman, offensive defensive a lineman,
and get a really good running back. I would draft
a running back on the Patriots on the second day,
and ideally that guy becomes my bellcal But like, look

(42:06):
how they played with the Tennessee Titans when Rabel was there.
They had a good running game, they had a good
offensive line, they resurrected Tannehill's career, and they had a
good defensive line. Obviously, then they hit on AJ Brown
in the second round. It's not like they this was
not the version of AJ Brown. That how he got

(42:28):
the AJ Brown that Vrabel had. And I'll never forget
a Thursday night game against the forty nine ers like
three years ago, a J Brown single handedly won the game.
I was like, God, this guy. I didn't realize he
was this good, and he was and he is. But
I just think the line of scrimmage, man linus scrimmage,
line of scrimmage. I think Harbaugh showed the way last year, like, oh,

(42:50):
they gotta take Maleak Neighbors, and they easily could have.
No one would have complained, not a fucking soul, Jim Harbaugh,
Joe Ortiz get their quarterback Maleak Neighbors, who's let's hope
the concussion thing is not a lingering issue for his career,
but already a top ten talent at the position, I mean,

(43:12):
a freak. And they're like, no, we're gonna take a tackle.
It's like you already have a left tackle. It's like, yeah,
we're gonna get a right tackle and we're gonna have
the best tackle duo in the NFL. It's like, Jim,
why didn't you draft a wide receiver. He's like, well,
I viewed offensive linemen as skill guys the tip of
the spear, and I would guess Vrabel will do the same. Obviously.

(43:34):
You know, if Joe Alt was in this draft, it'd
be a no brainer to take Joe alt at four,
he's not, and I think there are a lot of
question marks on the offensive lineman. So I'm not acting
like it's just a no brainer pick on who to do,
but I think you go offensive or defensive line. Been
a lifelong Packer fan. Matt Lafleur is clearly a great coach. However,

(43:56):
I think his play calling has been a little dubious.
Prime example they must have. I mean, we're breaking down
individual situations here third and three against the Eagles, and
they run it with a backup running back, not even Jacobs.
That's just one example. What kind of play calling is that?
His play calling has also been off, and I feel
like it costs us some games. Jordan Love is a

(44:17):
good young quarterback. He said, great, I'll go good, But
how long do we give him a chance to get
it wrangled in? He has a lot of farv in him,
but he's not bred far Curious to hear your thoughts, Uh,
you know what was weird about last season is Love
gets hurt in that Eagles game, and I thought the

(44:39):
next couple of weeks when they were rolling out Malik Willis,
I'm like, you're just gonna lose every game of Malika Willis,
and then all of a sudden he just runs like
this way different offense and they're running the ball with
Jacobs and Malik and it's like, what how is he
doing this? And you're like, Lafleur is an elite young
offensive coach Shanahans. He's in that crew, the version of

(45:03):
like the young Andy Reids from an offensive standpoint. And
then as a season went on, you'd watch him, especially
when Love was banged up, and they would get really
pass happy. I think you just have a weird year,
and maybe sometimes you try to justify giving your quarterback
all that money. Let's face it, Jordan Love a huge
reason he's there is because of Lafleur and Goodikins like

(45:25):
that's a mutual decision. But yeah, I mean, you if
your bad years are gonna be going to the playoffs.
But I and I talked about this on a mail
bag recently. It's pretty insane that you made the playoffs
going one in five in your division. That is nuts,

(45:48):
that that really is And I forget you know better
than me. My memory A lot going on upstairs right now.
But were you truynk that that week eight seventy or
eighteen game against the Bears, was that you were kind
of trying, kind of not I forget so, but let's
just even say going into that game you were one

(46:09):
and four. That's you can't get swept by the Vikings
and the Lions. That can't happen. But how often are
you gonna go one and five? Like next year? I
would say worst case scenario probably winning two games. So
you're already winning ten plus games. You're going you're winning
one divisional game. I think you guys are gonna be okay.
There's growing bats. I mean, Jordan Love has started what

(46:32):
one full season where he missed some games, and then
I guess he was a full time starter two years ago,
so two full time seasons. But he's already played in
three playoff games, so he's got a lot of experience,
and he sat behind Rogers on really good teams. I
keep saying this over and over. There are some teams
that are like, we're the Steelers, what are we gonna do?
We're the Browns, We're fucked right, We're the Cowboys. What

(46:54):
the hell is going on? And then there's like, you guys,
everything's gonna be okay. I'd be things are gonna be good.
You guys are fine, Like, it wouldn't shock me next year.
I You're like the two seat I would not freak
out if I'm a packer frown you guys. You know,
it's like when your boy flew first class for the

(47:17):
second time in his life to New Orleans and the
lady comes and she goes, what would you like to eat?
I'm like, uh, the enchiladas everyone else is eating. She's like, oh,
we're out of them. I'm like, well, what's your other meal.
She's like, oh, the salad. I'm like, oh, I'm good. Look,
that's first class problem. Not that big a deal, right,
And I realize, like, I'm not gonna complain. I'm sitting
here like I see why everyone or the eight to

(47:39):
ten people that sit up here when all the rest
of us are back like sardines in the back of
the plane, realize, Oh, they're living pretty to get meals.
But it wasn't that big a deal. Why because it
was a first class problem. It's like I didn't get
the ensuladas. Like, yeah, your coach had a couple of
bad play calls, you still were in a playoff game.
What are your thoughts on Dart coming out of Ole Miss.

(48:01):
He looked awesome in college, but I think he could
be a solid backup at the top of the second round.
Go BYU Cougar's Dart's a Utah kid. Uh. I didn't
watch that much Old Miss last year. I off to
as we get past free agency and I get married,
maybe that'll be a project of watching a little more

(48:21):
Jackson Dart on the old YouTube. My exposure to him.
I was dialed into one game this year and it
was a huge game against Florida, and he made some
of the worst mistakes I've ever seen. Like it was
like Jameis Winston at Tampa level, Like what is going on?
And I think you got to be very careful. We
used to call this we I mean they still do

(48:43):
call this. You know, sometimes your first exposure to a
player can be positive or negative, but you can't let
that cloud your judgment if it's a small sample size.
So like if you go see a top you know,
fifty player and he has an awful game, it's easy
to carry that with you forever. And it might have
been like that it was the worst game of the season.

(49:03):
He's a great player. He had a bad moment Jackson
Dart had a bad moment in the Florida game, like
really bad lost in the game. But that's like I
would say the most vividly sat No, it wasn't a
four box. It was like the only game on my
television and being like, what is going on here? I
liked him at USC early on in his career. I
thought it was like, this guy's a freak. You know.

(49:24):
The year I guess that would have been before Lincoln
Riley got there. I was a fan because he's very talented,
but I think the decision making in the game I
watched was like, but there's more to that, you know.
I know he had a good Senior Bowl. I know
he had other really good games and playing the SEC
it's like multiple years, he's gone through different coordinators. If

(49:48):
I was a betting man right now, I'll know more
after the combine texting around if you said you got
to place one thousand dollars. Does he get drafted in
the first round, does he go the second round? I'd
say probably it goes in the first round. You know,
if Jordan Love can go pick out whatever he went
twenty seven, Jackson Dart can go pick twenty seven. So

(50:10):
I would guess that Jackson Dart ends up going somewhere
between fifteen to thirty two. Do you think the Chiefs
make any big moves this offseason? The line needs massive
help at tackle, but it feels like bolden moves need
to be made to keep up with the Eagles. Well,

(50:33):
I don't know what their official cap space is. Chiefs
cap space twenty twenty five. You gotta love AI. According
to this, they do not have much and they just
franchise tagged. According to this, they have seven million dollars

(50:56):
in cap space now they only have two million in
dead cap, so they're doing pretty good though. They just
franchise tagged the player who accounts for twenty three million.
So when you're paying Patrick a ton of money, For example,
Patrick mahomes cap hit going into twenty five is sixty

(51:18):
six million dollars, I think it's fair to assume that
they do some sort of contract extension with Patrick Mahomes
or mess with his contract in the next week or two,
because I'd be stunned one they they just don't have
any wiggle room. If mahomes cap HiT's going to be
sixty six million and Chris Jones' cap hit I think

(51:43):
they would like to get Patrick down to like Chris
who's thirty five million, which is twelve and a half percent.
So between Patrick Mahomes here, listen to this between Patrick
Mahomes at let's round up twenty four twenty four, Chris
Jones at twelve point five and Travis at seven three

(52:10):
guys making forty three percent of their cap space and
Travis Kelsey City is coming back. So Kelsey's cap hit
is nineteen, Mahomes is sixty six, and Chris's is thirty
four A lot of coin, man, I would guess that,
Patrick Mahomes. And if you're Patrick, like, what do we

(52:32):
need to do? Do you want to give me more
signing give me thirty million dollars in two weeks as
a signing bonus and then we can mess with my contract?
Like I would do something like that for sure, And
if you're Patrick, it would you would be inclined, like
how do I help out the team? Right? I'm getting paid,
but like, give me some money up front, I'll redo
my contract and let's go buy some offensive lineman because

(52:53):
the draft is hit or miss. Like Andy has a
really good history of drafting guys and they drafted the
kid from BYU and it was just a tough spot.
So my guests would be sitting here they messed with
Patrick's contract, I think they would probably do that anyway.

(53:16):
Enjoy hearing your breakdown, But first, what makes a good scout?
And who are some of the all time great scouts?
This is the second time the Chiefs got obliterated in
the Super Bowl. Do line issues in your opinion? Is
it a matter of scouting needing to be better or
better coaching on the line? How much scouting does a
head coach and coordinator in the NFL do or are
they completely reliant on the scouting department. What would you

(53:39):
like to see added and taken away from the scouting combine? Well,
let's use the Chiefs. They had a tackle issue, right
They tried several years ago to sign Trent Williams. Trent
Williams was going to be a Chief and then the
Niners just went above and beyond and resigned him. Chiefs

(54:00):
are drafting every single year thirty two, so you're in
a position where there aren't tackles available there. They haven't
had cap space, so occasionally when a good player hits
the open market, they can't pay them so they're in
this weird spot of like, how do you find a
left tackle? Look at the left tackles in the NFL.
Most of the good ones are high picks. So the

(54:22):
Chiefs offensive line before they had to fix their own line,
their left tackle, they had one of the best guard
center guard setups in the NFL, Thuony Creed and Tray Smith.
Like that is I mean, that's like fifty million dollars
worth of stud player. So up the front they were fantastic.

(54:42):
Their tackles were just an issue, and it was mainly
like they didn't really have a left tackle, but like,
how are you supposed to find one? They're not easy
to find. So I just think they're in kind of
a tough position. Andy Reid knows how to coach find
tackles and coach them up. Some years you just are like,
we don't really know what to do, and they still
kind of pieced it together. I would say, depends on

(55:04):
the team, you know. I remember Michae Lombardi, the late
podcaster now GM. He was he was so taken back
by last year in Hard Knocks offseason, the Giants hire
the coordinator, the defensive coordinator from he with the Titans. Yeah,
he would have been because Veribele got fired, so they
hired the guy, and then in the free agency meetings

(55:27):
they basically just told him to tell all the scouts
what they need. It's like, you're just hiring this guy,
you tell him what you need. Like Al Davis used
to treat coaches like they were high school coaches, like,
just coach who you got, don't don't worry, we'll pick
the players. Now, there's a balance. You know, Andy's been
doing this along him and VS worked close together. But
I think some teams are different other teams. You know,

(55:49):
if you have Steve Spagnola as your coordinator, right, he's
probably pretty involved, you know, in the draft process, and
your scouts in your GM are working hand in hand
with him. If I get some random coordinator who just
showed up, like bro, coach the fucking team, we'll pick
the players, and I think there's that's but that doesn't

(56:09):
happen a lot because, let's face, the coaches make a
lot of money. The head coach is typically and always.
I think there's probably only one place in the league,
and that probably is gonna change here soon because he's
just gonna make a lot on a contract sension that
how he's making more than his coach. But I would
say I'd have to really do a deep dive, but

(56:29):
probably every coach is making more in the GM, and
some of these coaches, you know, the Hardbob Brothers, the Tomlins,
that they are making significantly more. Let's use the Pittsburgh
Steelers as an example. Mike Tomlin's probably making somewhere between
fifteen and twenty million dollars. Omar Khan, a first time
GM of a couple of years ago, I don't know.
I'm probably making three and a half. So your coach

(56:51):
is making three or four x. It's like, who do
you think is more juice? And it's why, like in
some other organizations, someone would have been like, yeah, let's
bench t Russell Wilson. This isn't really working. Let's go
back to Justin Fields. Well, head coach has a lot
of power. So I think when ever you hear about
these guys arguing about the decision making and the draft

(57:15):
and who gets the final say like all these coaches
pooh pooh that, like, oh it doesn't matter to bullshit.
Someone's got to pull the trigger someone like there's a
tiebreaker somewhere it's coach or the GM, especially when the
owners like I don't know, I don't know these players.
Your guys call who's got the final decision making power?

(57:35):
You pull the trigger. But I think coaches can be
pretty And here's the other thing. I don't know who
the best scouts are. I mean I was with a
lot of really good ones. Brett Veach, you know, was
a scout when I was there. He is excellent. Mike Bradway,
who is with him in Kansas City, is awesome at
his job. You know, when I was there, you know,

(57:59):
Gregson Griston is not my biggest fan. I didn't think
he was that great of a scout. I mean I didn't,
but you know, being a GM is about more than that.
But you know, you either got an eye for it
or don't. Some guys are better. And you know, Adam Peters,
I don't. I've never worked with at him, but I
always thought really, really highly of him, and I think

(58:19):
he's pretty fucking good. And I think John It doesn't
mean you don't miss and doesn't mean that maybe he
was all in on Trey Lance and doesn't mean he
doesn't go the wrong way. But I think over the
course of his career, like he's done pretty good job,
and listen, it's it's much. It's easy for me to
critique draft picks on the outside. It's it's obviously hard.
Is always easy to play Hindsight's twenty twenty. But let's

(58:45):
use last year as an example, because I have a
couple of scouting buddies that text me all the time.
One of my buddies with the Niners are like, does
anyone remember that the Bears never even brought in the
other quarterbacks, Like they didn't even bring in Jayden Daniels
or Drake May didn't even have him in for like
a dinner. It was just all in for Kaleb, which

(59:05):
was the easy thing to do because no one was
gonna give you shit. Yet Adam Peters took a bunch
of crap because he brought them all and took him
all the top golf. It's like, what are you doing?
I don't know my job. I we like Jayden, we
like Drake, but I why not evaluate them all? Why
not evaluate them all together, get a feel for the guys.

(59:26):
Let the cream rise. When I was in the NFL
and we'd have interviews and hell, I was part of this.
You show up like the other three guys interviewing for
your position are also in the cafeteria seven thirty in
the morning having breakfast. You're like, this is kind of crazy.
Is this Wall Street? You're like, no, this is this
is the Eagles, and this is for a job that
pays twenty three thousand dollars. There's two other guys here

(59:47):
interviewing with me. It's like, yeah, we're gonna pick one.
At the end of the day. It's like, shit, I
better dial in here. It's like everyone's I remember Adam
Peters took so much crap with people in the media
about the top golf thing, yet the Bears did not
bring one other person into their building beside Caleb Williams.

(01:00:08):
There is not anyone in the NFL. I'm sorry. It
doesn't mean it's gonna play like out this way forever.
But as we said here on February twenty seven, who
would take Cayleb Williams over Jade Daniels And even Adam
Peters at the time was like, well, I just want
to make sure we're bringing other people. Listen, my guys
with Kansas City really like Ryan Poles. People think he's

(01:00:30):
a good guy unlessen obviously you just watch him like,
seems like a great guy. Is he good at his job?
I don't know job's heart. And you know, the job
of a GM two is about more than like picking players,
like building a team. I would say the same thing
about Joe Shane, the GM for the Giants. It seems

(01:00:54):
like a nice guy, seems like probably a fun guy
to like be your neighbor, have as a friend. Is
he any good at being a general manager? Doesn't really
seem like that, seems like he's completely over his head.
I mean, it takes a dynamic individual, you know how.

(01:01:16):
He's just got a pretty unique set of skills. It's
just not his skill set is not normal. You know,
John Schneider is a little quirky, a little out there,
like he's kind of good at his job. I don't know,
it's fucking hard. I think he kind of knows what
he's doing. Doesn't mean you're perfect. When an NFL player
gets traded or moves teams in free agency, do the

(01:01:39):
new coaches or players ask about the old team, especially
if the player came from a rival team. As a
Chiefs fan, I wondered about this when Orlando Brown went
to the Bengals and Tyreek went to the Dolphins. Are
these players questioned at all about the scheme or anything
about how the Chiefs operate in certain situations that could

(01:01:59):
help these teams when they play Kansas City. Well, I'd
say this, the Dolphins. Tyreek Hill could bring every playbook
he ever had. He could bring his iPad from Kansas City.
He could have taken all his video from his cell
phone when he played all those years in Kansas City.
He could give it all. Mike mcdonnal, It wouldn't matter

(01:02:20):
one iota. He can get Andy Reid on the horn. Hey, hey, coach,
Mike wants to pick your brain about everything we do,
and he can tell them everything, they'd still get their
fucking ass kick the Bengals. I think that stuff just overrated.
You know. Belichick's talked about this over the years, like
you can only glean so much because the end of
the day, you don't know what's gonna happen. So it's like, yeah,

(01:02:42):
what are the fundamentals when you ran this play in
Kansas City? It's like, Okay, I can tell them how
we can run it or try to defend it. If
they got better players. It doesn't matter. So I think
in theory that stuff happens a lot, But I think
it's overall tangible value is much smaller than the way

(01:03:05):
it's often discussed. Plus in football, all these people have
worked with each other, All these people know each other
so many years of tape. So the chiefs do what
the chiefs do. They're gonna plits a lot. You're either
gonna pick it up or or not. Lifelong fan, lifelong
Vikings fan, not me. The GM Quesse hasn't had the

(01:03:27):
draft success like his predecessor, Rick Spielman. It made me
wonder how much of Quesse's draft staff is the same
as Spielman's. Can you shed some light on how decisions
are made behind the scenes. I think it depends personnel
department from personnel department. That when you take over, like

(01:03:50):
a guy like QUESTI and someone's fired, how many people
you keep? For example, we have a bunch of new
gms right now in the NFL, right the dude probably
messing up his name, Moogie Mogi, the Jets guy Borganzi,
spy Tech, and sometimes you know, Spi Tech already fired
like four people. Spy Tech is like we are cleaning house.

(01:04:12):
Don't blame him. It's like this thing needs We're going
doze up in this bitch. We are trimming the fat,
and that means everybody in some places, like when John
Lynch and Kyle Shanahan got the job, I would I
felt like a majority he brought in Adam Peters with him,
but the majority of guys Josh Williams, who just interviewed
was in the finals for the Jags job has been

(01:04:32):
there like fifteen years. You know, a lot of times
guys stay, so I think it just completely depends, you know,
individual from individual scouting staff. Sometimes you know the guys,
sometimes you just think they're good. Sometimes you have people
you're gonna bring in on your own. You know, if
you look at Quess with the Vikings, I mean, Grigson's

(01:04:55):
his right hand guy, but that's his football guy. You know,
Grigson things I'd hate him or whatever he hates me,
I really don't care. But like I just think you
can question, like is this guy that good at his job? Right?
Is he a good evaluator? Because you watch other teams,
you're like, I think you'd be pretty good at what
they're doing. And you watch the Vikings like yeah, I

(01:05:16):
think you know. I remember I watched a little bit
of the uh of the post whenever they got beat
in the playoffs, and then the GM and the coach
talked and quest. We talked about like we've hit on
some free agents, we have not done a good job drafting.
We'll see what JJ and the dude from Bama. But like, yeah,

(01:05:38):
I don't know, I can't speak to it. I think
rix s Puelman was good. I always said that about
like the Vikings, rix s Pielman and Zimmer were just good.
Now Zimmer got old and crotchety, but like Spielman was
good at his job, like he was a really really
good evaluator drafter, Like they just built really good teams.

(01:05:59):
I saw that when I was living in the Bay Area.
I feel like three or four times live and I
would always be like God, Kendrick Smith Hunter obviously, Adrian Peterson,
the tight end, the kid from Notre Dame. You know,
they drafted digs in like the fifth round. Feelan was

(01:06:19):
no one had ever heard of the guy coming out
of college. They were just good. Xavier Rose was a
first round pick. He was good for them for a
long time, Like Honestly, what was so crazy about the
Vikings this year is like Flora's doing an incredible job
because they're not John Randall ain't walking through that door.
Ravens fan here, could you see us making this offseason?

(01:06:42):
What moves could you see us making? Not exactly sure
on the cap space off the top of my head,
but me personally would love to see maybe a second
first Uh. Dude from Cleveland, but never give it to us.
I'm hearing Deebo rumors, but not sure he'd be much
of an asset. Dude is starting to look like Zion lowkey.

(01:07:03):
I was with Deebo in the plane flight to the
Zuber Bowl from Arizona. I thought he looked pretty good.
He's always had like me, our faces can be a
little chubby, but I thought he looked he didn't look fat.
I think one problem for the Xon, uh, Debo's done
way more in the NFL than Zion. I will defend

(01:07:24):
Deebo that way. And the one thing with Debo is
Debo is Uh. Debo's a fucking war daddy. Rough season
last year, but like I've seen Debo in the trenches
of big games, like you want that dude on your squad,
running over dudes, playing his ass off, like in some
of the biggest games of Kyle Shanahan's career. Deebo has

(01:07:45):
been a menace. Uh The problem for the Ravens is
one you never have that much cap space. Looking now,
twelve point nine million. Again, this is before guys get
cut in cap casualties and stuff. Your highest paid players
obviously Lamar whose caps base is forty three million, cap
hit fifteen percent, Marlon Humphrey, who I thought was slipping

(01:08:08):
and then they moved him in a nickel and he
was awesome. Roquan stud Andrew's bad game, good player, uh
Ama Bouquet, the defensive tackle stud Derreck Henry. You guys
are paying are your top players. Marcus Williams probably gonna
get cut. Uh yeah, I don't know. I feel like

(01:08:32):
you guys rarely do sexy shit to me when I
think of the Ravens. You guys just always have a
good core of people because you draft well, and then
you'll just sign like Derrick Henry or like Steve Smith Senior,
and then he'll bang the chick that's working in the office,
which I don't know if you saw that story on
the internet, but that's pretty classic. Which I also saw

(01:08:55):
Steve taking like family portraits like with the six Kids.
I actually saw Steve at the at the hotel buffet
for breakfast, said what's up to him? Looked like he
was in good spirits. Maybe she was there. I feel
like you guys make a living off like signing that
type guy like Derrick Henry Eric Weddle. You guys are

(01:09:16):
rarely like Messing. Not the Browns would never trade you,
Miles Garrett, but Debo, Like if you can get Debo
for cheap, I guess he's traded like a six round
pick in the Niners. Eat some of Debo's money. I
think that was the last question. Yeah, okay, well, good question.
The Ravens, you guys are just one of those teams

(01:09:39):
kind of like the Packers. Might not win the Super Bowl,
but it feels like you always have a good year
and you're just always gonna be good and probably more
than the Packers. Sometimes during the season you're like, is
this the best team in the NFL. Part of that's Lamar.
I mean, Lamar's dramatically better than Jordan, but you just
a well run organization. I think one thing the Packers

(01:10:01):
and the Ravens both possess is like they're very comfortable
in their organizational skin, Like they know what they want,
they know what they look for. They have a bunch
of guys you know GOODA Kins has been there forever.
Da Costa's been there forever. They just kind of know
what they're doing. It doesn't mean you're perfect. They're not
always super dynamic. You know how He's doing way crazier

(01:10:22):
shit less. Need will trade the house. They don't always
get super aggressive, but they rarely fuck up big. They
really do. So if I'm a Raven fan, I'm feeling
pretty good. The volume